Thoughts from the interface of science, religion, law and culture

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

EVENTS

It’s Not Reporting, It’s the Worldnutdaily

Unless you live in a cave, you’ve probably heard about Brad Pitt’s mother writing a letter to her local paper slamming Obama for being pro-choice and pro-gay rights. The Worldnutdaily puts its special spin on the story by turning a refusal to speak to them into proof that she’s now living in fear. The headline reads like this:

BRAD PITT’S MOM IN FEAR AFTER SLAMMING OBAMA
Quaking after being attacked for opposing same-sex marriage

Not only is she in fear, she’s “quaking.” So you’d expect the article to actually quote the woman saying that she’s “quaking,” right? Well sure, if this was a site engaged in actual journalism. But this is the Worldnutdaily, so this is all the evidence you get of that:

WND spoke briefly with Pitt and asked about the media assault against her for her comments as a private citizen supporting Romney. With inflections in her voice that conveyed fear and despair, she quietly and politely said she was not interested in talking to anyone in the media about the incident.

When she was told WND supported her right to speak her mind and is appalled by the threats against her life, Pitt expressed gratitude to WND for being one of the few news agencies doing so. Even her thank you, however, was said in a subdued manner laden with heaviness of heart.

The article does cite a handful of vile postings on Twitter aimed at her and those people really should drink a big glass of STFU. Criticism is entirely fair, especially since she said what she said publicly, but threats are never justified. But only the Worldnutdaily could turn a refusal to speak to them into an entire article characterizing her state of mind because the reporter thinks he detected a “heaviness of heart” — whatever the hell that is.

It’s not that I live in a cave, it’s just that I have very little interest in the trivia of celebrity culture that is distracting us from the real issues. If I believed that curses worked, I’d offer this one: May California break off at the San Andreas Fault and slide into the Pacific and New York be swallowed by the rising Atlantic!

Long time cave dweller, recent Googler. So Brad Pitt’s mom is religiously conservative: I don’t find that to be shocking, given her state of residence and age. Do I agree w/ her stance? Not one bit, but she has the right to respond to a newspaper letter or article just as much as I do. I’m not sure why what she wrote is news, other than the fact the WingNutDaily is salivating over the opportunity to make a splash with this…

May California break off at the San Andreas Fault and slide into the Pacific

Think twice: if that happened the U.S. would lose a significant percentage of its most progressive citizens.

(Not that curses are effectual. But California bashing is short sighted. And I’m sensitive about it, having spent my native Angeleno youth hearing an Edgar Cayce-spouting aunt predict the exact scenario you describe.)

Los Angeles is often referred to as Tinsel Town because of the presence of Hollywood. This is particularly true of folks on the East Coast. Actually, the Washington D.C. area is at least as phony as LA.

My original comment was to Stacy @ #13 who identified herself as an Angeleno, another term for a native of Los Angeles.

By the way, it should be noted that Brad Pitt is, apparently, like his buddy George Clooney, one of those Hollywood liberals, although not all supporters of same sex marriage in Hollywood are liberals (Clint Eastwood anyone).

Wow. Brad Pitt’s mother has political views. I care about that even less than I care about Brad Pitt’s views. She has every right to express her opinion, but just because she’s a relative of a celebrity doesn’t give it any more weight than any one else’s.

I’m not sure why what [Brad Pitts’ mother] wrote is news, other than the fact the WingNutDaily is salivating over the opportunity to make a splash with this…

I think WND is late to the party, other sites like Huffington Post gave the story legs.

I’d argue it’s news when a celebrity who is outspoken on his political views, as Brad Pitt is, has a parent who is also willing to be out-spoken. Especially if those parent’s views are contra their celebrity child’s and those views are of the dishonest delusional type expressed by Ms. Pitt. It humanizes the celebrity and illustrates the truism that all families are nuts.

Wow. Brad Pitt’s mother has political views. I care about that even less than I care about Brad Pitt’s views. She has every right to express her opinion, but just because she’s a relative of a celebrity doesn’t give it any more weight than any one else’s.

I observe no evidence journalists are motivated to promote Ms. Pitts’ political views. Instead her letter to the editor became viral because her son is a celebrity. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if Fox News and their ilk were promoting her views like they do Sarah Palin’s, but they aren’t practicing journalism.

Since San Francisco and the Bay Area lie close to the San Andreas Fault, they are more likely to fall into the sea then LA. We should note that the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire was much more severe than any that have occurred in Southern California (an estimate of 8.0 on the Richter scale). For comparison, the 1989 World Series earthquake registered 7.1.